1.Prologue

Prologue:

When Tom was younger it could be said that his enthusiasm for Physics was astounding. As he wanted to know how everything worked he had questions on everything that could be questioned. But about 2 years ago not long after he turned 16 his attitude took a completely 180 degree turn. It was as if he wasn’t the same the person he was the previous day. Everyone was stunned by the dramatic change in his behaviour, before he would be constantly writing long lines of strange mathematical equations which no one really understood. Now his long loved whiteboard was completely blank; his parents were terrified from shock. There never had been a time when the white board was blank since the day he received it on his tenth birthday. In fact they had never seen the whiteboard not full when he wasn’t writing.

Tom always kept a list of all the questions formed when solving previous questions. Needless to say the list was normally ridiculously long. It was to the point where it was considered ridiculous to even consider finding the answers to a small fraction of the things questioned. However to their great surprise the list that was always kept under his bed was nowhere to be seen. What had happened that could cause him to act in such a way? Well the answer to that question was perhaps more simple than everyone would have anticipated. Tom simply found the answer to all the questions he could. He estimated he would have to wait another 30 years before he could make any progress on his theories in physics.

Since then he had been locking himself inside his room exploring the things he couldn’t enjoy due to his unnatural curiosity in the past. He had bought himself a computer with the money he had been saving from his allowance and started researching what most people did in their free time. Due to him always being absorbed in his passion Tom was very rarely approached in class, even when he was approached he was too distracted by what he was thinking and writing to notice. This in turn means he has no experience in interacting with people outside of his parents.

Needless to say it did not take long for Tom to become completely addicted to computer games. It was to the extent that he only went to school for tests and examinations. Then for 2 years he played RPG, MMO, RTS, TCG and FPS games to an extent that he would be wrongly accused of being a hacker in every online match he went to. He then discovered Light Novels, Manga and Anime. His attention had completely shifted.

Though he had terrible attendance and a blank Application form due to him getting 100% in all his exams he was still allowed to take the Cambridge test and interview. After scoring 100% in the test he was required to take the interview. The only reason he applied to Cambridge was because his parents had threatened to take the internet away from him. As he waited in the waiting room just outside the interview office he couldn’t help but notice the attire and nervousness of the other people also attending interviews. Why wear something so uncomfortable and long to put on when the interview is so short? That was what was floating through Toms mind as he was called to the office. Tom enters, the interviewer was watching Tom very carefully and his concentration was at the level of a hawk watching its prey. Needless to say for the interviewer it was their job to assess the character and ability of the person he was interviewing. However the person standing before him despite getting full scores in the university test which included a diverse range of topics outside the curriculum of the A level exams the person in question had a blank application form and terrible attendance, but what’s more he went into the interview room wearing the light casual clothes you would wear around the house.

The interviewer not sure how to react decided to proceed with the questions he had asked all the previous applicants. He was rather proud of his ability and so would ask questions much more advanced than the questions asked by other interviewers, he prided himself in his ability to completely tear apart any applicant’s confidence. It was common for his applicants to have complete mental breakdowns; some have even wet themselves out of fear for their academic career. Despite his vast amount of experience in interviewing he had never seen such a sight, for the candidate to sit down leisurely in front of the interviewer in overly casual clothes while looking at his watch.

Tom: “Let’s get this interview done quickly so I can get back in time for the latest chapter release of Tsundere Crazy Mouse.”

Needless to say Tom was impatient. Tsundere Crazy Mouse was an incredible manga which had a plot twist every 3 pages. Tom did not understand the social etiquette required for an interview. He rarely had a conversation with anyone let alone going to anything formal like an interview. So he thought it would be just like an arranged conversation. Toms misunderstanding had caused the interviewer to secretly use questions at the peak of his specialist field. The interviewer had never even considered using such questions to break down an interviewee before as it was not considered fair practise. However the interviewer decided that he would get the candidate in front of him to admit his stupidity at all costs.

10 minutes later the doors to the interview room flung open and a person with messy attire came out whilst looking panicked. The candidates looked at the figure as to gauge what the interview was like however little to their knowledge it was not the interview that caused the panic in the man’s eyes. This man was Tom and he had not much time before the new chapter of Tsundere Crazy Mouse would be released. As Tom left the waiting room in a rush to return to his room the candidates became even more nervous than before. Their suits became even more drenched in sweat.

Curious to find out what had transpired the woman that normally escorts the candidates to the interview room decided to enter the room and ask the interviewer why the candidate looked so panicked. To the woman’s great surprise she saw the figure of a lifeless man collapsed near the white board.

Women: “Are you ok!? What happened?”

The man having just lost all his confidence in his knowledge had become exhausted and depressed. His mind was in complete disorder after all his questions were answered effortlessly. After a short while the man decided that he would “cheat” and ask questions that even he doesn’t know the answer to in his specialist field. The man thought to ask impossible questions that he couldn’t even figure out the answers to. Being on the forefront of the physics community this had to provoke some kind of nervousness or despair in his target. However the candidate just answered them as apathetically as he did for the other questions. Having devoted all his time to answering such questions he collapsed in a puddle of self-pity.

Man: “I think I’m going to quit.”

Woman: “what do you mean sir?”

Man: “I am a talentless disappointment to my field of research.”

Woman: “you’re the world leading expert in dark matter research. What are you on about?”

Tom is currently undergoing his first year at the very prestigious Cambridge University studying the highly academic subject of physics. However it seems he is somewhat different from what would be considered the norm at such an institution. Unlike the other counterparts he shared the kitchen with he can be considered to be abnormally apathetic and uncaring towards the subject he studied.

Most people assume he has been finding the course hard and is struggling to cope and that’s why he is always holed up in his room. However this was not the case, though he does not attend all his lectures he has completed all his homework and coursework to an unbelievable standard. He Is simply in his room all day because he is absorbed in a new Light Novel called “The Medieval Laser Archer”. A story about a rich time traveling Laser Archer on a journey to find his arch nemesis the Wizard of corpse was an exhilarating story to say the least.

An envelope icon appears in the corner on his computer.

Tom: “A message?”

Curious to see what it was Tom clicked the icon and found an email sent to him. However it was a very odd email. In the first place he had yet to use the email address for anything so how did they find out his email? Not only that the senders email address is blank. The email was called “New Life!”

Tom: “what a suspicious email…”

After clicking the link provided in the email a window opened up asking him to allocate attribute points.

Tom: “Is it some kind of RPG?”

The Format of spending points on attributes was a common feature of RPG games which allowed the user to endow a sense of customised originality into his character before starting the game.

Tom: “it says it has calculated a points value based on my knowledge and experience?”

There was a note at the top saying that the player’s points were decided by rating the player’s accomplishments. It then commented that 5 points was about average. However Tom’s points were over 100! (111 to be precise)

Tom: “Must be a bug…”

Tom tried to refresh the page but it didn’t seem to have any effect on his point total. He thought it was likely a scam to lure players into playing the game.

Tom: “as if I’m that stupid.”

Tom clicked the x to close the window. However it wouldn’t close so he pressed ctrl alt delete to get up the task manager to end the process. However there was no process relating to the message.

Tom: “…damn is it some kind of virus?”

Tom didn’t really want to turn off his computer since it takes forever to start up. After little contemplation he decided to quickly assign the points and click enter. There was none of the normal attributes like stamina, strength, mana, or health. But there was stuff like fighting Talent and athletic Talent. Tom thought the system was weird but didn’t complain.

Tom soon realised this was not the case. The cold air, his mouse disappearing and most noticeably the big floating status window in front of him were all clues as to his new location.

Tom: “Is this a status window?”

As Toms eyes adjusted to the darkness he began to realise where he was.

Tom: “Is this a forest?”

I must have been drugged somehow then dragged into the forest. The status screen must be caused by the drug having a possible hallucinogenic side effect. Tom thought this was the most likely explanation. He did consider it odd that they transported his chair along with him.

Tom: “This is quite extensive for a prank…”

Tom couldn’t think of anyone on bad enough terms to do this to him in spite. He decided that it must be a form of prank that he got signed up for. He remembers something similar being broadcast on TV once where a famous hypnotist planted clues to an oncoming zombie apocalypse then used hypnotism to put the subject to sleep. The subject then awakes in a hospital then the man who explored the hospital became convinced he was in some kind of zombie apocalypse when in reality it was a bunch of actors.

Could I perhaps be in a similar situation?

Tom decided that he could not rule out such a possibility for now.

The first thing I need to do is work out where exactly I am and where I should go.

Tom thinks momentarily then came up with a solution. He knew of the various star formations and moon cycles so he could use his knowledge to get a bearing on his position and then make plans accordingly.

Tom looked towards the sky only for his eyes to widen in disbelief.

Tom: “How can this be…?”

The star formation was completely different from anything he could imagine. He couldn’t see any of the known star constellations. But the most noticeable thing was the two moons, one small moon and one big moon. The small moon seems to have about half the diameter of the big moon of course this is all relative diameters in the sky. It’s possible that the smaller looking moon could be larger and just further away.

Due to the staggeringly impossible sight before him Tom realised either he is touring some kind of new technological VR device or he was having a very vivid dream.

Tom: “so a dream huh…”

Tom thought that dream was the more likely option as he had not heard of such an advanced VR device being made.

After closing his eyes and opening them a few times he determined he was dreaming very deeply and wasn’t sure how to wake up.

I guess I won’t be waking up any time soon…

After Tom resigned himself to his dream he decided to check out the status screen in front of him.

Name: Tom

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Level: 1

Health: 10/10 (replenished upon sleeping at a rate of 10% per hour)

Mana: 10/10 (replenished upon sleeping at a rate of 10% per hour)

Strength: 1

Agility: 1

Stamina: 1

Skills:

Chanting omission (due to high talent in the magical arts the user has gained the ability to cast spells without the required incantation)

Mana conservation (due to high talent in the magical arts the user uses 1/10th the normal required mana when casting spells)

Eternal youth (Inherent skill causing you not to age)

Sense (allows you to determine the surroundings up to a range of 10 meters)

Why does my name not include my last name smith? Well disregarding that bug it seems I have dreamt myself some cheat like skills for me. Is it just me but don’t my base stats seem rather small? Since this is my dream does that mean I’m devaluating myself? It’s also odd that intelligence isn’t a stat? Well whatever…

Let’s see I wonder what magic is like?

Tom focuses on his hand and imagines a ball of fire forming. As he does a ball of fire the size of a basketball forms in front of his hand.

Tom: “wow this is awesome!”

Tom imagines the fireball being propelled forward. As he does this the fireball propels itself forward striking against one of the trees in front of Tom. The Tree bursts into flame instantly causing bright light.

Tom: “just how I pictured it amazing!”

Tom continues to fire Fireballs at some of the other trees near the flaming tree. After 4 more shots he couldn’t create anymore. He checks his status it seems his mana had depleted to zero.

Tom: “I guess a fireball costs 2 mana.”

If I didn’t have mana conservation I guess it would cost 20?

Tom begins to wonder about how practical fireball would be considering he can only use it 5 times a day.

Pity I used up my mana now I can’t experiment with other spells. Well I guess it will have to wait until I have this dream again. I can’t imagine me having a dream like this very often.

Tom: “*sigh* I guess that’s it then”

Tom shrugs his shoulders and starts walking in the opposite direction to the fire. After a few steps he notices his shadow become more pronounced as the light behind him increases its intensity. Tom looks behind him to see that the fire had spread quickly to the other trees. There is more than 3 times the number of trees on fire than a moment ago…

This is bad did I just start a forest fire?

Tom: “That doesn’t look good… I think I should RUN!”

Noticing the rate the fire was spreading Tom realised it wouldn’t take long until it reaches him. He begins to run away from the fire as fast as he can. This turns out to be pretty slow…

Tom: “I’m starting to feeeeel tiiiiiiiirrrre….”

Tom collapses to the floor as he exhausts the last ounce of his stamina.

Wait didn’t I fall and receive pain? Wait it can’t be that…

Tom thought that he should wake up from a dream if he falls due to the body’s natural reflexes. It’s also unlikely a VR would cause him to feel pain.

Tom comes to the realisation that perhaps he has possibly transferred to another world. However this was a momentary thought as his consciousness fades away.